A Collection of Mugs

People collect of all sorts of odd and interesting things. Rare stamps and coins, sports memorabilia, antique furniture and teddy bears are some of the more common items that are cherished. Even license plates and fountain pens make their way into personal display cases. And remember the beanie baby craze? As for me, I have a particular fondness for mugs. Not any old mug, but one that is crafted by hand, and made out of my favorite material…clay.

My collection started out with the beginning attempts at throwing my own mugs on the potter’s wheel. The lopsided, runny-glazed, and thick-bottomed “seconds” weren’t quite disastrous enough to throw away, yet too embarrassing to put out on a selling table. So, they took up residence in the kitchen cupboard. The worst of the lot was eventually moved aside to make room for a more respectable line-up. Slowly but surely, though, more space will be needed as I keep adding to my collection from a vast supply of practice pieces and experiments. I also need to find a place for the beautiful one-of-a-kind creations made by friends and potters that I admire and just have to own.

It’s amazing how many different styles you come across when hunting for a handmade mug in the craft marketplace…as many as there are personalities and hand sizes, I suppose. Everything matters to the mug lover considering a purchase: the weight and the balance, the curve of the handle, the angle of the rim, and the overall shape and decoration. I’ve watched people come into my craft fair booth and deliberate for more than half an hour, picking up different mugs and feeling them in their hands, getting a sense of how their fingers fit around the handles while discussing the glazing techniques with a friend. I’ve seen other people run the top rims across their lips and cheeks to check for any rough edges. There are girl mugs and guy mugs, some with two-finger handles and others with four. There are little mugs for cordials and espressos, and extra large mugs for those who drink coffee all day long. Some mugs have flared out tops and others taper inwards, a feature that decreases the surface area to keep hot liquid from cooling down too quickly. (The teacup is something else altogether.)

As for my collection, one mug stands out above all the others. It is hand-built from a slab of white stoneware, stamped with a circular design (bottle caps and pencil erasers), and gas-fired with a beautiful blue-green glaze…made by none other than my youngest daughter during a summer class when she was ten-years-old. I especially love the free-form handle and the scalloped detail around the foot giving it an animated and lively appearance.

What about any of you out there…if you had a choice, which of these mugs would you pick out of a crowd? And, if you’re a collector, I’d love to know what kind of objects you’re passionate about and what fills your own shelves at home.